All eight indexes on our world watch list posted gains through May 6, 2019.

The top performer is the Shanghai SSE with a 17.90% gain and in second is our own S&P 500 with a gain of 16.83%.

In third is Tokyo's Nikkei 225 with a gain of 11.21%. Coming in last is India's BSE SENSEX with a gain of 7.55%.

By Jill Mislinski

All eight indexes on our world watch list posted gains through May 6, 2019. The top performer is the Shanghai SSE with a 17.90% gain and in second is our own S&P 500 with a gain of 16.83%. In third is Tokyo's Nikkei 225 with a gain of 11.21%. Coming in last is India's BSE SENSEX with a gain of 7.55%.

Here are all eight world indexes in 2019 and the associated table sorted by YTD.

A Longer Perspective

The chart below illustrates the comparative performance of World Markets since March 9, 2009. The start date is arbitrary: The S&P 500, CAC 40 and BSE SENSEX hit their lows on March 9, the Nikkei 225 on March 10, the DAXK on March 6, the FTSE on March 3, the Shanghai Composite on November 4, 2008, and the Hang Seng even earlier on October 27, 2008. However, by aligning on the same day and using a log scale vertical axis, we get an excellent visualization of the relative performance. We've indexed each of the eight to 800 on the March 9 start date. The callout in the upper left corner shows the percent change from the start date to the latest weekly close.

Here is the same visualization, this time starting on October 9, 2007, the closing high for the S&P 500, a date that is approximately the mid-point of the range of market peaks, which started on June 1 for the CAC 40 and ended on January 8, 2008, for the SENSEX.

For a longer look at the relative performance, our final chart starts at the turn of the century, again indexing each at 800 for the start date.

Check back next week for a new update.

Note: We track Germany's DAXK, a price-only index, instead of the more familiar DAX index (which includes dividends), for consistency with the other indexes, which do not include dividends.